Nepal 2019 - Day 8 - Namche Bazaar to Pangboche

 Namche Bazaar to Dingboche/Pangboche

Today was the day where I started to leave the EBC trekkers behind and moved on to the 3 high passes. What I heard so far was, it was going to be a mad rush till the two trails separated respectively. Woke up early, grabbed a quick breakfast of Tibetan bread with cheese. Didn't realise the bread would be dense and stodgy, the hard cheese didn't help so gulped half of it with some tea and saved the rest for the trail. Leaving the lodge, the owner gave references and visiting card of his cousin's place in Dingboche promising discounts. 

Once you climbed out of Namche, the trail was relatively flat as it snaked around that eastern edge of the plateau offering dramatic views of the mountains to come. Passed through Chorkung with ascents and descents overseeing the rushing Dudh Kosi flowed below with it's perceptible even from above. The next village in the trail was Kyangjuma which was filled with trekkers and all it had was one lodge. Moving on, I stumbled upon the village of Sanasa. This one was full of overenthusiastic vendors with their elaborate display of souvenirs. This village also marked the juncture in the trail for those heading towards Gokyo and those heading towards Dingboche, I took the latter. You could also see the first glimpses of Tengboche where most people used to rest for the night with it's stunning Monastery as a place to visit. 

I reckoned that Dingboche was at a similar altitude so the trail would be quite an easy one. Well, I was in for a butt-kicking! Checking with a local, he informed me that not only is Tengboche 700ft higher but the trail dropped 1000ft to Phungi Thenga where it crossed the Dudh Kosi river and then a climb of 1650ft! All of that under 2kms!

The trail passed through number of small villages before reaching the bridge over the river. The rushing river cascaded over large boulders and along the trail, several water powered prayer wheels spun rapidly in their houses. I grabbed this beautiful view as an opportunity to get some tea before the ascent started.

From this point, it was a long soul-crushing ascent to Tengboche. It was pretty exhausting under the blazing sun making my way up the rocky steps and steep slopes, one switchback after another. Even the long gradual steps were punishing and there seemed to be no end to the uphill until I actually reached Tengboche, greeted by one of the last steps to the entrance. Beyond that, with a brilliant bright painting and a bronzed prayer wheel, were the last steps to a large stupa with huge prayer flags around it. Just ahead of it was the famous Tengboche monastery, aka, Dawa Choling Gompa. The brick red monastery stood out above the tops of other buildings on the surrounding grounds. Tengboche is small compared to Namche but has excellent views of Ama Dablam and Everest.

I was pretty famished with the trek so far so took shelter in one of the many bakeries around the monastery. They had lot of choices ranging from pizzas to pastries to cakes but I stuck with the regular affordable Dal Bhat. There was still some way to go before i could reach Dengboche and I needed the carb energy to muster forward. The leftover bread from morning had turned to almost a brick. Thankfully, there were enough dogs around to enjoy it.

Post the lunch, I carried on towards my destination towards the north and the trail was also descending. I wasn't ready to climb after a heavy lunch anyway. While the mountain views were few , the trail and the surrounding foliage were beautiful. I also saw a couple of deer as I passed the village of Deboche heading towards Imja Khola river crossing. After crossing it, it was another steep climb to pangboche. It was a clear morning but I could see some clouds on the horizon. I had stopped for a cup of tea and started to chat with this South African couple who were staying for a couple of days in Pangboche. On further enquiry, I found out that they are planning the Ama Dablam Base Camp the next day. This wasn't part of my itinerary but this opportunity was too good to miss out on. It was only a 4 hour return to the Basecamp. I decided to stay overnight and do this side quest of ADBC. Found a teahouse for 300 NPR with a blanket. This site was very lively with expedition teams from all over the world. It was an excellent atmosphere with people mingling with each other and just having some fun. 

The night temperatures soon dropped below freezing and all of us collectively decided to retire around 23.00. This was easily one of the longest night I had spent on this trip so far and definitely the most fun.